Many people suffer from restless leg syndrome, or RLS as it is commonly called. RLS is a medical condition in which an afflicted person has regular urges to move their legs in order to relieve uncomfortable internal sensations.
Movement of the legs typically stops or reduces these uncomfortable internal sensations, but this relief is generally very short-lived and the sensations quickly return when the legs stop moving. Many users afflicted with severe cases of RLS have turned to therapy, drugs, or even surgery to help rid their body of this affliction. Unfortunately, what has been found to work for some people produces little or no change in another, and only constant stimulation of the legs is known to work consistently.
One (1) known method for stimulating muscles in the field of medical therapy is the use of electrodes which apply weak electrical pulses to the surface of a user's skin in order to cause the underlying muscles to contract.
Various attempts have been made to provide automated electrical muscle stimulators for therapeutic use. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,268; U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,033; U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,237; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,746.
While these apparatuses fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more of the aforementioned disadvantages. Many such apparatuses are not adapted for use on the legs. Many such apparatuses are designed for use in a dedicated therapy environment and are immobile, bulky, or expensive, thereby limiting their efficacy for personal use. Many such apparatuses are dedicated to particular rehabilitative uses and are not adapted to provide a simple level of stimulation desirable for people with RLS. Furthermore, many such apparatuses do not provide a desirable range of controls providing a minimum functionality for comfortable use by RLS patients but without unnecessary complexity that is undesirable for the particular task of mitigating RLS. Accordingly, there exists a need for a therapeutic device particularly adapted for persons suffering from RLS and without the disadvantages as described above. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.